<p>To those who find many of the essays "contrived" and overedited (by who?)--</p>
<p>I admit felt the same way after reading online essays last year. Some applicants seem too determined to prove to the reader just how out-of-the ordinary they are. In some cases I think they go overboard. After seeing S1 go through the application and essay process, though, I do look at it a little bit differently now.</p>
<p>I think there are some students (boys especially), who might feel somewhat uncomfortable writing very personal essays about themselves. It's up to them to find a topic they're OK with. I also think an essay can represent a student without being 100% ABOUT them. I agree with primeminister (and congratulations, BTW!). Stop worrying so much about what others wrote, and do what feels comfortable and right for you. Everybody is different.</p>
<p>Also, re: the Tufts essays-- one thing to remember is that you are not seeing the whole picture. Some of these were written in response to very specific questions that are not posted with the essay examples online. For example, one of their supplemental/optional topics was a historical "what if?"</p>
<p>"...Using your knowledge of American or world history, choose a defining moment and imagine an alternate historical scenario if that key event had played out differently."</p>
<p>They might choose to write in the voice of someone who lived in that time, to treat it as a straight history topic, or turn it into a creative writing piece. Are these the kinds of things you'll write about? Probably not, but in some cases these were specific topics they chose.</p>
<p>In others, students are invited to write on topics ranging from "The End of MTV," to their favorite works of fiction or non-fiction. I think offering these options encourages applicants to be creative. My son agonized for weeks over his common app. and personal essays, but actually seemed to enjoy the optional topic he chose, and wrote the whole thing in one night.</p>
<p>I just want to chime in with some comments about Tufts. My daughter was accepted to Tufts last year with an essay that was nothing like those posted on the website. I happen to think the essays on the website are pretty cool, by the way. However, my kid just doesn't write that way. The point is, no one is expected to write any particular way. I remember how my daughter obsessed about her essay ... she had lived any ordinary, uneventful life ... she is not a "creative" or "quirky" writer ... she was sure she couldn't possibly come up with a great essay. She did read sample essays & research books with advice about The Essay. In the end, she was able to come up with a seemingly small moment in her life to highlight. She took that small moment and built it into an essay that explored religion, politics, and how she plans to use college to better understand others & grow personally. It was very "her," and it worked for Tufts ... as well as 7 other schools. A successful essay will look different for each student. Of course, good grammar, good organization, etc. are necessary for every successful essay!</p>
<p>My sons friend who got into Princeton and is there as a freshman this year recently shared with him the essay that won him entry into all eight of the schools he applied to. To my surprise, it was not overly sophisticated but in fact spoke more candidly than most would feel comfortable doing. His essay primarily centered around the college application process itself, what it did to his realtionship (temporarily) with his parents, the stresses, the obsession in this society here in the U.S. about getting into a namebrand college,etc.........he was the first to admit he too was a victim of that seduction that we call the Ivy leagues.
I loved his second part which said that despite living in a well to do upper crust neighborhood in Ct. and having gone to a good pulic school, having the chance to go into NYC at a moments notice, that he has always dreamed of a simpler life and has dreamt about living in rural Vermont living a more simplistic life. He is not at all any the typical trappings that many young kids are, my son included. He ended by saying he felt he was born in the wrong century, etc........it was creatively and most importantly very honestly written, he was able to poke fun of himself, and admit his shortcomings. This was a true "slice of life" essay that many schools refer to wanting to see more of.</p>
<p>I wanted to share this because in a world of overly polished essays with more words that you don't understand than do, this was a refreshing and low key essay that clearly was written by a seventeen year old. Food for thought for any of you still plugging away at your essays, use a Thesaurus to a minimum, they smell it a mile away and unless your teacher/counselor says you speak with the vocabulary of a Harvard educated English Nobel Peace Peace prize winning scholar, you will appear to not be sincere which is first and foremost. Good luck to you all!!</p>